Friday, 31 August 2018

Horror Review: 78/52 - Hitchcock's Shower Scene (2017)

An unprecedented look at the iconic shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), the "man behind the curtain", and the screen murder that profoundly changed the course of world cinema.

Like many other Horror fans out there "Psycho" is one of my all time favourite films, so to hear a documentary about it had been made was absolutely great and made it a must see for me.

When you talk about iconic scenes in Horror films, the shower scene from "Psycho" is easily one of the most iconic out there. It's ingrained itself into pop culture and we've seen it copied and parodied a million times over, but for good reason, it's an amazing scene that is still terrifying audiences to this day.This documentary focuses on this infamous scene (The shower scene consists of 78 camera setups and 52 cuts, hence the title), it maybe strange to think that a documentary has been made about a single scene in a film but it is just so much more than that, it has had a huge knock on effect that is discussed here.

We get to hear from people in the industry such as Elijah Wood, Leigh Whannell, Scott Spiegel, Jamie Lee Curtis, Guillermo del Toro, Walter Murch as they dissect this scene both from a technical stand point and as a fan. We also hear how it has influenced their own careers and the affect it had on the film business in general.

To see the scene get put through such rigorous analysis is both astounding and highly informative, I can guarantee you that you'll never see this sequence the same again after watching this but I mean that in a positive way, as a huge fan of Hitchcock's work I have to say I was glued to the screen and it was very well put together.

"78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene" is a must see, not only if you're a fan of Hitchcock but also a fan of film, it's a truly intriguing documentary on a truly iconic moment in film.

If you want to see the "78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene" trailer then just click on the video below:

Miscellaneous facts about the film:Marli Renfro, the body double for Janet Leigh, was also an original Playboy bunny and was featured on the cover of the September 1960 issue.All the modern-day interviews were filmed in black-and-white, to match the black-and-white excerpts from Psycho (1960).Although it is endlessly analyzed and dissected (and portions of it are shown forward, backward and in slow motion) the complete, uncut original "shower scene" this film is ostensibly about is never actually seen in its entirety here.